elangoas
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
Wanted to share with you my experience of choosing speakers & HT Setup... Happy reading....
My sincere thanks to each & everyone of the forum from whom i have learnt various aspects of audio/video components thru various discussions/ threads...
Sonodyne Avant Range of speakers are the flagship product of Sonodyne Home Audio product range...They are made of die-cast aluminium, though looks industrial, they look pleasing to the eyes...
This setup was for my younger brother who is a bass head & had a stereo setup (2.1) NAD C326 + Mission M35 FS + Sonodyne SLF 200 Ai (Studio Monitor series subwoofer)he really likes to crank up volume until the windows start rattling... Though the setup was good, bass management was missing... FS were running full range & subwoofer set to 45- 50Hz.. But i still felt the bass was too much & overpowering....
His requirements were simple setup 2.1...more of movie watching, HD/SD broadcasts & casual stereo listening... What happens with stereo amplifier is the movie (Blue Ray Rips) which has multi channel soundtrack (5.1) was downconverted to 2.0 & then made 2.1... This was not right... For stereo this was ok because making 2.0 -> 2.1 is fine... But not with movies...
So i suggested him to reconsider the setup with an AVR, BS+Subwoofer combo as it would have bass management. He was ready for any of my suggestion & experimentation and readily agreed...
My recommendations were 3.1/5.1 setup with an used AVR.. The reason for suggesting an used AVR was he had an LG 42 inch Plasma which didn't have ARC over HDMI & No digital output (Optical/Co-axial Output). The old AVR with digital inputs can still work with BRRIps with DTS/DD content, so why spend 50K when you not going to use the features... Instead thought of investing on good speakers & used AVR for 10 - 15K & then upgrade the AVR when he upgrades the TV with HDMI ARC function...
Why Sonodyne Avant speakers :
-> Not many of us can afford flagship products... They will definitely cost you an arm & leg... there are of course brands like Monitor Audio, Mordaunt Short, PSB, Wharfedale & so on...But Sonodyne Avant speakers appealed to me, because of their pricing & material used for construction... Aluminum being he top enclosure for speakers than MDF & more importantly affordable..... Every other speaker had advanced tweeters/midrange blah blah ...But affordable?...
-> When the primary purpose is watching movies, there is no point spending on expensive FS & when you have the SUB crossed over @ 70 HZ... Instead high sensitivity satellite speakers like these do a much better job....The speakers that come with any HTIB models are often low on sensitivity.. starts anywhere from 82db to 86 db...Avant range is 90 db efficient...So any entry level AVR/ modest power should bring the Avant to life very easily....
There were no reviews on the net (Expect AVMAX review) & not many on this forum have this speakers...
I had borrowed Avant LCR 250 from chennai dealer for a weeks audition as a center channel speaker paired with Marantz SR 5200 AVR...I must say that the clarity in dialogues were just exceptionally good and haven't heard any speaker in the price of 15K to be that good....
So decided that Sonodyne Avant it should be.. so placed order of 3 pieces for Avant LCR 250 from hifimart.com.. They were prompt in shipping, but when it comes to delivery in rural areas (50 kms away from chennai), they just refuse as they cannot deliver in that area citing bloody stupid reasons...
I don't think being in a village is a SIN....
I have gotten used to this treatment for long, so went along with my brother in his car to the courier collection point & collected the speakers which was 25 kms away from my home... Stupid idea to pay shipping charges...
Anyways coming to the listening experience...
Components used by him : 42 LG Plasma (HD Ready), WD TV live, NAD CD Player, Videocon HD STB, Onkyo TX SR 603 (Bought used one for 15K), Sonodyne SLF 200Ai subwoofer...
Source material used : Blue Ray movies - internet downloads with DTS mostly lossy full bit rate (~ 1540 Kbps) & Half bit rate (~750 Kbps) & of course Dolby Digital @ Variable bit rates....
Connectivity : For movies - WDTV optical out --> AVR Optical in : For TV - Digital Co-axial out from HDSTB -> AVR Co-axial in : For Music - NAD CD player Co-axial out -> AVR co-axial in..
Listening Area : 250 Sqft (11 feet wide x 22 feet length). All three speakers mounted to the 11 feet wall... The seating position is around 15 feet from the speakers...
Speaker placement : The left & right speakers were placed to corner of the wall & toed in @ approx 30 degrees directed towards listening position...
MX Banana Plugs
AVR Settings : changed to 3.1, as yet to buy surrounds (Avant 150),Avant LCR 250 is a 90 db efficient & 100Hz is waht it can handle maximum... speakers set to SMALL & crossover set to 100Hz for the Sub.....
Movie watching experience which i think made difference :
The Grey (English) :wolves howls in the movie.. Juz felt they were right in the room....Flight crash scene & sounds of winds after crash & of course wolves were simply a treat on these speakers...
Rio : clear sounds of birds chirping
Toy story 3 : Opening scene of the movie, the train chase down, & train falling down from the broken bridge with explosion....
Sri rama Rajyam (Telugu): a epic movie with rich background score / songs...I could hear the flapping of the chariot in the "Jagadananda Karake song" which i never heard in my Sonus speaker center channel (Sonus C 2401).
Angadi Theru (Tamil) : Right @ the start of the movie in the bus-stand scene, when the person talk on the phone, there is actually FM playing the background.. Havent heard this on my Sonus....
Jodha Akbar (Hindi) : Clear & distinct dialogues
If the clarity in the speakers are good, it elevates the normal movie watching experience @ out home.. Moreover they also make you addictive to watching movies...
We were extremely impressed by the way movies played on the speakers with good amount of details...
The movie watching was really good because 5.1 is presented as 3.1... (.1) is left left untouched in AVR...This was not happening in stereo setup as explained above....
Listening to Music (Stereo): Stereo mode on the AVR (2.1) mode.. AVR set @ same 100Hz for crossover....Speakers set to SMALL (Same as above setting for movies)
This is a new listening experience for us as we have listened to BS/FS with AVR... But first time high sensitive Satellite speakers + Subwoofer...
Since crossover set ot 100Hz, there was no bass speaker from the fronts... Juz sub taking care of the entire bass... This was good experience
We have huge collection of FLAC & WV ( Film songs).. They all sounded good... But as i said new experience....
Watching HD Broadcasts (Stereo) : Stereo mode on the AVR (2.1) mode.. AVR set @ same 100Hz for crossover....Speakers set to SMALL (Same as above setting for movies)
strange thing that i noticed was that advertisements started sounding more detailed between movie breaks/ reality show break timings....Again anything reproduced from the speaker had pristine clarity...
The idea is to build 7.2/9.2 channel system with an AVR like Onkyo TX NR 929 / Yamaha Aventage RXA 1030 model when he upgrades to a TV with HDMI ARC function... Until then this will suffice & thought to share the experience....
Who should consider Avant.... Anyone whose movie watching pattern is more, have HTIB sets & want to upgrade to a better speaker can consider this (or) someone building a dedicated HT system with casual stereo listening.....
Sorry abt the post being lengthy, i tried to cover the actual viewing/listening experience of movies/music/TV...
The next experience which i will sharing is about the Sonodyne SRP series (Active speakers for home)....
Wanted to share with you my experience of choosing speakers & HT Setup... Happy reading....
My sincere thanks to each & everyone of the forum from whom i have learnt various aspects of audio/video components thru various discussions/ threads...
Sonodyne Avant Range of speakers are the flagship product of Sonodyne Home Audio product range...They are made of die-cast aluminium, though looks industrial, they look pleasing to the eyes...
This setup was for my younger brother who is a bass head & had a stereo setup (2.1) NAD C326 + Mission M35 FS + Sonodyne SLF 200 Ai (Studio Monitor series subwoofer)he really likes to crank up volume until the windows start rattling... Though the setup was good, bass management was missing... FS were running full range & subwoofer set to 45- 50Hz.. But i still felt the bass was too much & overpowering....
His requirements were simple setup 2.1...more of movie watching, HD/SD broadcasts & casual stereo listening... What happens with stereo amplifier is the movie (Blue Ray Rips) which has multi channel soundtrack (5.1) was downconverted to 2.0 & then made 2.1... This was not right... For stereo this was ok because making 2.0 -> 2.1 is fine... But not with movies...
So i suggested him to reconsider the setup with an AVR, BS+Subwoofer combo as it would have bass management. He was ready for any of my suggestion & experimentation and readily agreed...
My recommendations were 3.1/5.1 setup with an used AVR.. The reason for suggesting an used AVR was he had an LG 42 inch Plasma which didn't have ARC over HDMI & No digital output (Optical/Co-axial Output). The old AVR with digital inputs can still work with BRRIps with DTS/DD content, so why spend 50K when you not going to use the features... Instead thought of investing on good speakers & used AVR for 10 - 15K & then upgrade the AVR when he upgrades the TV with HDMI ARC function...
Why Sonodyne Avant speakers :
-> Not many of us can afford flagship products... They will definitely cost you an arm & leg... there are of course brands like Monitor Audio, Mordaunt Short, PSB, Wharfedale & so on...But Sonodyne Avant speakers appealed to me, because of their pricing & material used for construction... Aluminum being he top enclosure for speakers than MDF & more importantly affordable..... Every other speaker had advanced tweeters/midrange blah blah ...But affordable?...
-> When the primary purpose is watching movies, there is no point spending on expensive FS & when you have the SUB crossed over @ 70 HZ... Instead high sensitivity satellite speakers like these do a much better job....The speakers that come with any HTIB models are often low on sensitivity.. starts anywhere from 82db to 86 db...Avant range is 90 db efficient...So any entry level AVR/ modest power should bring the Avant to life very easily....
There were no reviews on the net (Expect AVMAX review) & not many on this forum have this speakers...
I had borrowed Avant LCR 250 from chennai dealer for a weeks audition as a center channel speaker paired with Marantz SR 5200 AVR...I must say that the clarity in dialogues were just exceptionally good and haven't heard any speaker in the price of 15K to be that good....
So decided that Sonodyne Avant it should be.. so placed order of 3 pieces for Avant LCR 250 from hifimart.com.. They were prompt in shipping, but when it comes to delivery in rural areas (50 kms away from chennai), they just refuse as they cannot deliver in that area citing bloody stupid reasons...
I don't think being in a village is a SIN....
I have gotten used to this treatment for long, so went along with my brother in his car to the courier collection point & collected the speakers which was 25 kms away from my home... Stupid idea to pay shipping charges...
Anyways coming to the listening experience...
Components used by him : 42 LG Plasma (HD Ready), WD TV live, NAD CD Player, Videocon HD STB, Onkyo TX SR 603 (Bought used one for 15K), Sonodyne SLF 200Ai subwoofer...
Source material used : Blue Ray movies - internet downloads with DTS mostly lossy full bit rate (~ 1540 Kbps) & Half bit rate (~750 Kbps) & of course Dolby Digital @ Variable bit rates....
Connectivity : For movies - WDTV optical out --> AVR Optical in : For TV - Digital Co-axial out from HDSTB -> AVR Co-axial in : For Music - NAD CD player Co-axial out -> AVR co-axial in..
Listening Area : 250 Sqft (11 feet wide x 22 feet length). All three speakers mounted to the 11 feet wall... The seating position is around 15 feet from the speakers...
Speaker placement : The left & right speakers were placed to corner of the wall & toed in @ approx 30 degrees directed towards listening position...
MX Banana Plugs
AVR Settings : changed to 3.1, as yet to buy surrounds (Avant 150),Avant LCR 250 is a 90 db efficient & 100Hz is waht it can handle maximum... speakers set to SMALL & crossover set to 100Hz for the Sub.....
Movie watching experience which i think made difference :
The Grey (English) :wolves howls in the movie.. Juz felt they were right in the room....Flight crash scene & sounds of winds after crash & of course wolves were simply a treat on these speakers...
Rio : clear sounds of birds chirping
Toy story 3 : Opening scene of the movie, the train chase down, & train falling down from the broken bridge with explosion....
Sri rama Rajyam (Telugu): a epic movie with rich background score / songs...I could hear the flapping of the chariot in the "Jagadananda Karake song" which i never heard in my Sonus speaker center channel (Sonus C 2401).
Angadi Theru (Tamil) : Right @ the start of the movie in the bus-stand scene, when the person talk on the phone, there is actually FM playing the background.. Havent heard this on my Sonus....
Jodha Akbar (Hindi) : Clear & distinct dialogues
If the clarity in the speakers are good, it elevates the normal movie watching experience @ out home.. Moreover they also make you addictive to watching movies...
We were extremely impressed by the way movies played on the speakers with good amount of details...
The movie watching was really good because 5.1 is presented as 3.1... (.1) is left left untouched in AVR...This was not happening in stereo setup as explained above....
Listening to Music (Stereo): Stereo mode on the AVR (2.1) mode.. AVR set @ same 100Hz for crossover....Speakers set to SMALL (Same as above setting for movies)
This is a new listening experience for us as we have listened to BS/FS with AVR... But first time high sensitive Satellite speakers + Subwoofer...
Since crossover set ot 100Hz, there was no bass speaker from the fronts... Juz sub taking care of the entire bass... This was good experience
We have huge collection of FLAC & WV ( Film songs).. They all sounded good... But as i said new experience....
Watching HD Broadcasts (Stereo) : Stereo mode on the AVR (2.1) mode.. AVR set @ same 100Hz for crossover....Speakers set to SMALL (Same as above setting for movies)
strange thing that i noticed was that advertisements started sounding more detailed between movie breaks/ reality show break timings....Again anything reproduced from the speaker had pristine clarity...
The idea is to build 7.2/9.2 channel system with an AVR like Onkyo TX NR 929 / Yamaha Aventage RXA 1030 model when he upgrades to a TV with HDMI ARC function... Until then this will suffice & thought to share the experience....
Who should consider Avant.... Anyone whose movie watching pattern is more, have HTIB sets & want to upgrade to a better speaker can consider this (or) someone building a dedicated HT system with casual stereo listening.....
Sorry abt the post being lengthy, i tried to cover the actual viewing/listening experience of movies/music/TV...
The next experience which i will sharing is about the Sonodyne SRP series (Active speakers for home)....
hyeah:
